Inspo: Daniel Milnor

I’ve gotta love / hate relationship with Instagram. Very few photos nowadays make my thumb stop mid scroll, all the photos…errr…I mean content looks the same. Influencers and wanna be influencers chasing likes and followers. But at the end of the day, Instagram isn’t a photography platform, it never really was. It’s a communications tool. Let’s call a spade a spade. Maybe that’s my issue, content creators passing for creatives…or dare I say photographers.

But every now and again there are voices on Instagram that I want to hear, and their work I want to see. One of those people is Dan Milnor. Dan is a creative no longer in the photo game so to speak and a straight shooter. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. Dan is always trying to find ways to stay creative, or seek creativity. I can certainly relate. He also lives in both in the film and digital world, lusting for his Leica and Kodak Tri-X, while appreciating the benefits of the mirrorless Fuji X system.

It’s post like the below that keep me coming back to his feed and blog.

@daniel.milnor

The still. The print. A reflection of a super-storm of ingredients. Light, timing, composition and luck. Then comes the edit. The real edit. Not the one thousand to five hundred, but the "What is the single best image?" "What is second best image?" "How do these images work together?" And then the print. Silver? Inkjet? Something else? Then the frame. Endless options. More editing. What supports but doesn't distract? Finally comes the new home, the new owner if you will. The one who says "I need to live with that moment even though I was never there." Thoughtfulness and emotion. It's why I can't quit this particular game. #print #photography

107 Likes, 14 Comments - Daniel Milnor (@daniel.milnor) on Instagram: "The still. The print. A reflection of a super-storm of ingredients. Light, timing, composition and..."

Dialed In: SNOMG

After a record snowfall from three separate snow storms here in Seattle, we’re finally thawing out.

Inspo: Gordon Parks

Photographer and journalist Gordon Parks used his camera as a tool to help the world understand the experience of African-Americans in the U.S. A current exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, titled "Gordon Parks: The New Tide," examines the first ten years of his career, and exhibit curator Philip Brookman sits down with Jeffrey Brown to share more about the artist's life and work.

Gordon Parks is the main reason why I picked up a camera. My very first photography website, 93 Autumns, was a homage in a way to Gordon Parks’ “Half Past Autumn” His photography American Gothic remains one of my favorite portraits….photos of all time.

American Gothic, Washington, D.C., 1942 | Gordon Parks

I was so bummed when I was in D.C. last month that I wasn’t able to visit the National Portrait Gallery to check out the exhibit: Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940–1950 because of the government shutdown. Thanks Trump.